Home Made Curd ( Dahi )

You can make curd at home with milk and needs some fermentation in a warm temperature.
In colder places you will have to find a warmer spot inside the house where is can be kept for fermentation for example inside the oven.

Ingredients:

• Whole Milk - 4 cups ( quantity depending on how much curd you want to set )
• Starter Curd ( culture ) - 1 tbsp ( I prefer full fat curd for culture )

Directions:

• First, boil the milk on stove top or in microwave.
• Let the milk cool down in room temperature till it is luke warm. 
• Now add the starter curd ( culture ) in the milk and mix it well with the whisk.
• Transfer it into the bowl with a lid in which you want to set the curd.
• In the warmer place you can cover and leave it on the counter for 5 hrs for it to set.
• However, in colder places, you will need to put in in a preheated oven.
• Preheat the oven at the minimum temperature ( say 170 or 180 deg F ) and turn it OFF.
• Now place this bowl in it and leave it undisturbed for 5 hrs or even overnight. 
• Once the curd is set, refrigerate it. 

Tips:

• Whole milk yields a thick curd or yogurt.
• Use the full fat yogurt as the starter curd for better results.
• Make sure while you add the starter curd ( culture ), the milk is neither too hot nor too cold. The curd will not set at all.
• It should be warm. Touch the milk with your finger it can be slightly more than luke warm.
•  The longer you keep the curd outside the sour it becomes.

How to cook Quinoa

Quinoa ( pronounced : Kin-wa ) is appreciated by many people for its nutritional value. It is a source of complete protein. Also a good source of dietary fiber,  iron, calcium, etc.

Cooked quinoa can be used in various dishes from salads to pulaos to upma and many more.
I shall post few of the recipes as we go.

This is how you can cook quinoa.

Stove Top :

• Rince the quinoa under running water just like how you rinse rice before you cook it. 
• Take 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of water and cook covered for about 15 minutes on medium or till the quinoa is fluffy and cooked and all the water is soaked up. Give a standing time of 5 minutes.

Microwave: 

• Take quinoa and water in the proportion 1:2 in a microwave safe bowl, cover loosely and microwave for about 10 min. Let is stand for another 10 min. 

Quinoa looks fluffy and transparent after it is cooked. They are crunchy in texture.

Note :  

• You can replace water with vegetable stock.
• You can also cook in a rice cooker.
• You can add chopped vegetables like onions, celery, carrots, bell peppers etc to make is more flavorful. 
• You could also add garlic, or a spring of rosemary or dash of black pepper and some lemon juice with little olive oil.
• You could make it like how you make vegetable pulao or vegetable upma as well. 

Ghee ( Clarified Butter )

Ghee, one of the most essential ingredients in the Indian kitchen. Used to make most of the sweets, used for tadka in any dal or curry, used to make parathas, or even just drizzle some ghee in rice. It is used in most of the recipes.
My mom used to collect the cream of the milk for several days and then make ghee out of it. However, It's much easier and quicker to make ghee with store bought butter.
Here is the method to make ghee.

Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter - 1 lb or as needed

Directions: 

• Place the butter in heavy bottom pan. Let all the butter melt in the pan. Cook uncovered.

• Bring it to boil over medium heat. Keep stirring. 
• It will form a foam on the surface which will disappear in a couple of minutes.

• Continue to cook on medium heat. Foamy bubbles start to form at the surface.

• Reduce the heat to low and let simmer. Keep stirring. Don't take your eyes off the stove. It might burn in seconds.
• The brown solids will now settle down at the bottom and the the liquid will turn beautiful golden in color. Turn off the heat now, as you do not want to burn the brown solids. 
• Let it cool. When cooled strain into a clean air tight jar.

• You can store it on the kitchen counter. It need not be refrigeratred. It will solidify after a couple of hours.

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Since it is halloween time and we have too many pumpkins around which means too many pumpkin recipes.
What do you do with the seeds? Do not throw them away. It makes a good crispy thing to munch on.

Ingredients:

• Seeds from one pumpkin
• Salt - to taste
• Water - 2-3 cups ( for boiling)
• Oil spray - to sprinkle

Directions: 

• Cut the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. To separate the seeds from the stingy core, soak the seeds in a bowl of water for about half hour. The clean seeds will float on the surface of water. Take the seeds out and keep aside.
• In a small saucepan , take the water and add salt to it. Boil the seeds in this salted water for about 8-10 minutes. Drain .
• Spread the seeds on the baking pan and spray the oil very lightly. 
• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bake the seeds for about 15-20 min until they brown on both the sides. You can toss them in between. 
• Eat after cooling. Eat as a whole or peel and eat the inner seed.

Home Made Paneer

Paneer is very easy to make at home. Try the following steps:

Ingredients:

• Milk - 4-5 cups
• Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp

Directions: 

• In a pot, bring milk to a boil.
• Slowly add lemon juice and keep stirring.
• The milk would start to separate.  When the milk is completely separated it would look like the picture below

• Turn off the heat and let it cool.
• Line a collander or a mixing bowl with a thin cloth.
• Drain the contents of the pot through the cloth. 

• Tie a knot and hang the paneer over the kitchen sink for half an hour till all the water is dripped out.  You can also hang it on a deep jug.

• Put a heavy weight bowl on the paneer to press it and flatten it a bit. 
• Untie the knot and use the paneer. You can either cut them in cubes or scramble it.  ( if you are going to scramble it, then you don't really need to put a weight on it to get it into a shape. )

Enjoy fresh paneer in various recipes :)

Ginger Garlic Chili Paste

Ginger-Garlic-Chili Paste is one of the most important ingredients in Indian cooking.
Majority of the recipes require this paste.
It is handy to make this paste in bulk and save it for a longer time.
It can be stored in fridge for a week.
So, keep the amount of this paste which you would require for a week in fridge and freeze the remaining.


Ingredients:

• Ginger
• Garlic
• Green Chillies
• Salt

Directions: 

• Take ginger, garlic and green chillies in equal proportion. Wash them clean.
• Grind in the food processor to a coarse or fine paste.
• Add a generous amount of salt and freeze it.
• Use as and when required.

Vegetable Stock

Vegetable stock is an important ingredient for making soups or sauces or fried rice,etc . It makes the dish more flavorful.


Ingredients:

• Garlic Cloves – 6- 8 crushed
• Ginger - 1 inch crushed
• Bay Leaf – 2
• Black Peppercorn – 8-10
• Onions – 2 large
• Carrots – 2 large.
• Cauliflower - 7-8 florets
• Bell Pepper - 1
• Shredded Cabbage - 1 cup 
• Celery – 2
• Spring Onions – 4 stalks
• Cilantro - 2-3 springs
• Leeks – 1 spring
• Parsley – 5-7springs
• Water – 1 pot ful or say, 15 cups

Note: Several other vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms, potatoes, peas, corns, thyme etc can also be added.

Directions: 

• Wash and Chop all the vegetables into large rough pieces. No need to peel onions or carrots. 
• Heat water in a heavy bottom pot. Add all the ingredients into the water.
• Bring it to a boil and then allow it to simmer for atleast 1 hour.
• Allow it to cool and then strain the stock.
• Discard the vegetables, since there is nothing left in them to reuse. All the qualities and flavors of those vegetables have been extracted by the water.
• Use it in soups or any other preparation.
• Store it in fridge . 

Tip:  I usually store half the stock in the fridge which i can finish using in a week and freeze the remaining half in the ice cube tray for the later use.

Home Made Bread Crumbs

This is not really a recipe , but bread crumbs is one of the ingredients in many recipes like Aloo Tikki or Corn Cutlets etc.

You can make them at home very easily. Sometimes you are left with 4-5 slices of old bread at home and you really don't like to make sandwich or toast out of those. Making bread crumbs is the best use of such leftover, old bread.

Directions:

• Break the bread slices into small pieces and place them on a microwave safe plate.
• Heat them in the microwave for a minute.
• Toss all the pieces and heat them again for another minute.
• Let them come to a room temperature.
• Grind coarsely.
• You can store it for many days in an air tight container.

Making dough for roti or paratha ( Indian Flatbread )

Indian Flatbreads are called Roti , Paratha , Fulka , Chapati which are mainly made of wheat flour .
To make chapatis, you need to knead the dough. Here is the procedure to make the same.







Ingredients :

• Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
• Warm water or milk - 1 cup approx.
• Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method to make the dough :

• Put flour in a mixing bowl and add 1/2 tsp of salt.
• You may use warm water or milk to make the dough.
• Different brands of flour need different amount of water so we shall pour little water at a time. So pour 1/2 cup of water/milk into the flour and mix.
• Add the remaining water/milk gradually and keep kneading it till all the dough comes together .
• You can add 1/2 tsp of oil to it , so that it does not stick to your hand.
• Rest the dough for half an hour before you start making rotis.